How the 'Beach Buggy' helped Evan find new adventures

Monday

Aug 25, 2014 at 12:01 AMAug 25, 2014 at 7:46 PM

The recent story about the 'beach buggies' that Jack Banda of Marshfield is making to help transport children with cerebral palsy inspired readers. This is one of the letters Banda's daughter, Nicole Puzzo, received from a family who received a free beach buggy for their son. Puzzo founded Stepping Stones for Stella to bring the buggies to other families besides her own.

The recent story about the 'beach buggies' that Jack Banda of Marshfield is making to help transport children with cerebral palsy inspired readers. This is one of the letters received from a family who received a free beach buggy, thanks to Jack Banda and his daughter, Nicole Puzzo.

The story began two years ago, with Jack Banda watching his daughter, Nicole Puzzo, struggle to carry her youngest daughter, Stella, onto the beach. Stella, now four, has cerebral palsy and it was a difficult transport. As a result, Banda designed and built a beach buggy transport for Stella, and then for other families. This is a letter from one of those families to Nicole Puzzo:

"Our boy Evan is a bright, energetic and very outgoing four-year-old boy. He was born 12 weeks premature and as a result has moderate spastic displegia cerebral palsy. Evan walks independently with a walker and is working hard to be able to graduate to canes but long distances continue to be a challenge.

"As he tires, he must defer to the use of his wheelchair. We are an adventurous family and enjoy all sorts of outdoor activities. We love to take walks to nearby parks, explore nature, spend time at the beach in Florida and play in the snow in the winter at home.

"As a parent, I have been struggling to find transportation options for out outdoor activities.

We have tried everything: strollers, wagons, carriers and nothing has been a great fit. Now that Evan is getting older and better, the options for travel assistance seem to be less and less. After being introduced to Stepping Stones for Stella, and learning of the Beach Buggies being offered to children like Evan, I was so excited.

"We spend several weeks in Florida and many days at the beach, and we wish that the buggy was here for Evan sooner! When I learned that the buggy could not only be used in the sand but in the snow as well, I began to think of all the other places that the buggy would make exploring so much easier.

"The buggy now makes us excited to continue to do all the activities we can do as a family.Thank you again and again Nicole! Your dedication and commitment are so inspirational!!

Megan Kalweit

On another note, there is also a report online about The TEK Robotic Mobilization Device, described as "a machine developed to replace the wheelchair." A demonstration video "shows a man with a severe injury to his spinal cord able to move about in ways that a wheelchair would make very difficult."